Evening Ticker: US ends 2018 World Cup Bid to focus on 2022, NESV takeover of Liverpool complete and more

The Unted States World Cup Bid Committee announced that they will be dropping out of the running for the 2018 World Cup.

A move that has been long considered a formality with FIFA explicitly stating that they would like the 2018 World Cup to take place in Europe. The United States will now look to bring the World Cup to America in 2022 for the first time since 1994. The nations in the running for 2018 are England, Russia and combined bids of Belgium/Netherlands and Spain/Portugal.

With the United States now focused on the 2022 World Cup, the US is considered the front runner for the tournament especially with England subsequently dropping out of its own campaign for the 2022 World Cup to focus on a bid in 2018. The nation will face competition from four nations in the Asian confederation Australia, Qatar, Japan and South Korea. Since the US has dropped out of the running for the 2018 bid, the CONCACAF may now play king-maker of which nation may eventually win the tournament in 2018. Which may boost support for the Americans in the 2022 race.

More stories after the jump:

NESV COMPLETES TAKEOVER OF LIVERPOOL

The Reign of Tom Hicks and George Gillett has ended for Liverpool F.C.

On Friday, New England Sports Ventures, the owners of the Boston Red Sox completed their takeover of Liverpool F.C. The deal was finalized after the former owners removed a restraining order that was blocking the deal. John W. Henry will now assume duties as the head of the club and according to the BBC has a deal in place to repay the club's 237 million pound debt. With the debt repaid, it is unlikely that the club will fall into administration and face a nine-point penalty.

"We regard our role as that of stewards for the club with a primary focus on returning the club to greatness on and off the field for the long-term," said Henry to media after the order was dropped. "We are committed first and foremost to winning. We have a history of winning, and we want Liverpool supporters to know that this approach is what we intend to bring to this great club."

Liverpool fans got another boost on Friday as one of the team's talisman's Jaime Carragher agreed to a two year contract extension with the club.

The Vancouver Whitecaps have had a wonderful road record all season and it has put them in the front position for a berth in the Division 2 final. The Whitecaps and the Islanders played a 0-0 draw in Bayamon, Puerto Rico in the first leg of the semifinals.

Vancouver will host Puerto Rico for the final leg on Sunday at Swangard Stadium. In the other semifinal, the Montreal Impact –who enter MLS in 2012 – defeated the Carolina Railhawks, 1-0 at Montreal's Saputo stadium. The Impact were victorious thanks to a goal by Leonardo Di Lorenzo off a free kick in the first half. Montreal will now travel to Cary, North Carolina to take on the Railhawks on Sunday.

BECKHAM REJECTS ENGLAND CALL-UP

The ever present David Beckham has rejected a call up from England manager Fabio Capello for a friendly against France. The friendly would take place on November 17th just days before MLS Cup which Beckham and the Galaxy hope to be playing in. The 35-year-old midfielder has been getting back to full fitness after his achillies injury that he suffered back in March and has scored a goal and an assist during his first few games. After training on Thursday, Beckham reterated that he is ready to help the club return to MLS Cup and finish the job that they were complete in last year's MLS Cup.

" You always have to think about it especially when it ended like it did. If we were successful you have that different mentality but because we didn’t win, we didn’t go all the way and win it, you have that," said Beckham "I would hope the players on the team have that determination to win it this season. We’re thinking about that more than anything."

It scares me a bit as well, but I don’t think we would have dropped the 2018 without some assurance of some votes (as improper as that may be) Australia is in weird time zone, I think TV ratings would suffer thus advertising revenue. The major complaint with the US bid from last time was the atmosphere outside the stadium (gotta complain about something, right?) but I think that is underestimating the American soccer fan these days. A lot has changed within the culture since ’94. Having said that (with the reverse jinx in full effect) I think Australia will get it.

I never understand why Europe has to ever other World Cup or one every 3 world cups. I understand that there are a lot of bidding nations in Europe, but they generate so much revenue with the Champions League, Europa League, and Euro tournaments. Its so much more revenue, tv, and popularity than any other continental tournament. It is sad to think that with China the most probable in 2026 and probably Europe in 2030, that if we dont beat out other good candidates in 2022 like Australia, we might not see the world cup near us for 24 years in 2034.

I think another problem was that the games were commonly played at midday to accomodate the European TV markets. It gets pretty hot in midwest, causing the pace of play to suffer… remember those bags of water all over the fields in ’94?

The Aussies have to build some stadium infrastructure, whereas we don’t. A lot of their stadiums are on the smaller side, 40k. They currently only have 2 80k+ stadiums, and one of the strengths of our bid is that we’re shooting for a record 5 million tickets.

There must be a deal in place to give the US the WC in 2022 and a European nation the WC in 2018. Australia is a member of Asian federation and, thus, if they win 2022 WC, China cannot bid for 2026, as China plans. Having Europe host 2018, US 2022, and China 2026 makes too much sense for the FIFA financially.

@MFUSA posted this on Twitter this morning, but it’s worth repeating in the hopes that we’ll get some additional backstory — is Tom Hicks secretly a cartoon super-villain? Everything I’ve read seems to paint him as mean, evil, and/or painfully out of touch with reality, but I get the sense that there must be more to it than that.

Any predictions for the US 2022 squad? Could the Hamm/Garciaparra child be in the mix??? Is will there still be a Bradley on the squad? Will Jozy score a goal between now and then? So many questions.. (joking..)

I know this is way O/T, but one of my favorite theoretical exercises is speculating who would make good DPs in MLS. I’ve seen Blackpool play a few times, and love their playmaking mid Charlie Adam. He seems to dictate flow almost in the effortless way of a Zidane (not same class, but similar style), and he’s only 24. I would love to see a big MLS team (NYRB?) with cash to throw at him make an offer. Not a box office hit, but you’d spend 5X as much money bringing in a Veron or Ronny, even including a transfer fee. Moreover, I’d wager the on-field results would be similar, IMO!

Yes, that’s exactly what it means. We drop out for 2018 early enough to “have talks”, so then the remaining 2018 contenders pander to us (and the other 39 [?] concacaf countries) to gain our votes. This, in turn, gives concacaf (and especially the US) leverage with votes for 2022.